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By having a conversation now about regionalizing, cooperation, and sharing services, we can prepare for the future together and protect our schools.
In Connecticut, we're proud of our excellent public schools. We are one of the best educated states, with schools that send our high school graduates in droves to great colleges. This is one of the key reasons families choose Connecticut as their home.
None of us want that to change.
But there's a reality we all have to face in Connecticut:
Our student population is shrinking.
Over the last decade, it has decreased by 7%.
It's happening faster than anticipated.
That's a loss of more than 35,000 students over 10 years.
CT's Districts
By the Numbers:
Connecticut has 166 local and regional school districts.
50% of them (84 districts) have less than 2,000 students enrolled.
Small school districts can struggle to provide comprehensive educational programs to students, including extracurricular activities, Advanced Placement courses, electives and athletics.
As the student population shrinks, our state is also searching for economic efficiencies.
Education funding is the largest component of municipal aid that the state provides.
This means that finding cost savings while maximizing outcomes for students must be the new way forward.
If we don't address how education dollars are being distributed and spent, students and teachers will eventually suffer from a drain of funding.
It's time for a different type of conversation:
Regionalizing District Services
Education dollars should be spent on students, not back-office expenses or duplicative, non-academic services.
On March 29th at 10am, we're holding a forum at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford to discuss school district regionalization.
Please RSVP to join Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney, Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, and Education Committee Co-Chair Douglas McCrory in this conversation.
